Plant wall pioneer McRae Anderson recently introduced this new ebook publication called “Embrace the Vertical” on the topic of vertical green walls. It’s free, colorful, and concise – just enough to whet your curiosity for more. Anderson provides a list of plants, some basic case studies, and a little background information on his own Greenwalls product.

Leave a comment below through the end of Wednesday, February 2, 2011, to be considered for this random book giveaway.*

Princeton Architectural Press was nice enough to send us a copy of a newly published book on skinny houses called Narrow Houses: New Directions in Efficient Design. Authored by Avi Friedman, Narrow Houses includes 28 case studies — all measuring less than 25 feet in width — with site plans, floor plans, and tons of photos.

Projects featured in this book vary with a healthy dose of detached, semi-detached, and attached examples. If you have a thin site, perhaps a copy would provide value in the form of getting ideas to maximize your lot.

Amazon is expected to sell more than 8 million Kindles this year, according to Bloomberg. That’s a lot of people and millions more will use Kindle apps for the iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, etc. As a Kindle 3 owner and avid reader myself, it’s nice to have a good book lined up ready to go. So for all you new Kindle owners and app readers, here are five green books to pick up for your new gadget:Read more »

This is the sixth part of The Ultimate Modern Gift Guide for the Holidays 2010,* which is a curated list of goods for design-savvy folks interested in green innovation. This green gift guide has eight parts, which will be made available throughout the week. This part includes five noteworthy books of interest to folks in the green home building community.

Leave a comment below through the end of Friday, October 22, 2010, to be considered for this random book giveaway.*

Recently, Chelsea Green Publishing sent us a copy of a new book, A Solar Buyer’s Guide for the Home and Office, by Stephen and Rebekah Hren, also the authors of the Carbon-Free Home. Just like the first book, the authors chose a topic that they’re clearly expert to talk about. Stephen is a builder and teacher with experience in passive and active solar heating technologies, while Rebekah is an NABCEP-certified photovoltaics installer, licensed electrical contractor, and ISPQ-certified solar instructor.

Leave a comment below through the end of Friday, October 1, 2010, to be considered for this random book giveaway.*

If you like to be told how to spend your money, there's a new guide that may be of assistance, The Better World Shopping Guide, which we received from New Society Publishers. The average consumer spends something like $18,000 per year on goods and services and may not know how to spend that money wisely. The Better World Shopping Guide incorporates over 5,000 hours of research and, using report cards on thousands of companies, rates every product on the book shelf from A to F.